@JonPatrickHyde is doing a really good series of cards on building your own custom guitar and it's packed with a lot of good information. I told him a little about my first guitar...the Frankenstein. I brought her out and dusted her off a bit and...so...here she is . Originally she was a Harmony Strat imitation (a Fender Stratocaster for those unfamiliar). My dad got her for me when I was 14 from Fingerhut. She always had a deep basey sound that I loved and for a cheap guitar she gave me a lot. So that's basically the only reason I still have her, she means a lot to me.

This is what she looked like when she was new. ( not my picture)

My dad "accidentally" dropped her one day and broke her head so he bought me a replacement neck. The only neck the local music store had that fit was a Schecter Telecaster imitation replacement neck. The guy had to shave the slot a little but the neck came without predrilled holes for the bolts so I was able to bolt it on pretty good.

My dad also got me replacement tuning keys as the originals were pretty much rusting and coming loose around the gear boxes. He got me some Schallers. They definitely held up over the years and did a decent job of keeping it in tune. After nearly thirty years they are still in good shape

Her body has definitely seen a lot of wear and tear is very solid, and heavy. I don't know what wood they used but after awhile I'd feel it on my shoulder haha. The only parts here that are original is the pick guard and the body itself. The pick ups, the bridge system, the volume and tone controls, the switch and the tear drop are all cannablized from other guitars I've had over the years. And of course my little personal touches . The wife wanted me to paint her again but she don't understand that each scratch, each part that's missing paint makes her who she is, that it's part of my history. It's guitarist thing

Pretty much all the hardware needs to be replaced and one day I will get around to it. As you can see in the picture part of the whammy bar slot is broken. If you wanna know, it does produce a cool vibrato effect similar to a whacked out chorus pedal but it does get annoying, and you can't control it.

This is my son's guitar, it's Fender mini Strat that he basically uses to collect dust

This is Arcelia, named for someone special in my life. She's Jackson JS34Q Dinky with a Floyd, and although she sounds beautiful, she can't hit the same deep tones that Frankenstein can.